Manly cricketer draws comparisons with Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke
Rising cricket star Jack Edwards has drawn comparisons with former Test skippers Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke. Here’s why.
Rising cricket star Jack Edwards has drawn comparisons with former Test skippers Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke at the same age following a master display with the bat for Manly in Saturday’s win over Fairfield-Liverpool.
With Manly chasing 185 at Manly Oval, 18-year-old Edwards took control by scoring 97 as Manly won with the loss of just four wickets.
“Jack’s having a super year and made light work of it all,” Manly coach Tim Cruickshank said. “He looked pretty much in control from the start. The first ball he hit for four, straight down the ground.”
It was another five-star performance from the cricketer with the surfie looks.
Cruickshank said: “He is as good as anyone I’ve seen at the same age, including the greats of the game.
“In my time the best two players I’ve seen at the same age are Michael Clarke and Phillip Hughes. I would put Jack in that category. “The generation before, you look at guys like Ricky Ponting, who scored a Shield century at 18.”
Edwards became the youngest player to score a century in Australian domestic one-day cricket playing for NSW against Queensland in their JLT One-Day Cup win last month. And he scored a century for NSW in his Sheffield Shield debut against Tasmania this month.
“Jack’s probably pinching himself a little bit,“ Cruickshank said. “Everyone knew his time was going to come but we didn’t think it was going to happen this soon – and I’m sure he didn’t.”
Cruickshank said Edwards had a long way to go in his career and a huge development phase to go through but the youngster had not got carried away with his successes and wants to keep improving.
“It was really rewarding for him to go out there and win a game for us and get his first really big score for Manly,” Cruickshank said.
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